User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World Review
What's up my Shreks, it's me DiamondMinerStudios here again only hours after reviewing Donkey Kong Country 2 for GBA. This time, I'm reviewing the GBA remake of my favorite SNES game - Super Mario Advance 2 : Super Mario World. Just like DKC2 GBA, I will answer two primary questions : How well does this game hold up on its own merits, and how does it compare to the SNES original? Let's find out. Story The story is the exact same - Mario, Luigi, and Peach take a vacation to the peaceful Dinosaur Land, home of the Yoshis. Unknown to them, Bowser has taken over the land and trapped Yoshi inside a block. When Mario and Luigi have their backs turned, Bowser kidnaps Peach. Once Mario and Luigi discover Peach is missing, they set out to save her and restore peace to Dinosaur Land. One addition over the original, just like DKC2 GBA, is the intro cutscene. It helps to better establish the game's plotline, allowing a more detailed look into the game's story beyond the text you get when you start up a new save file. Graphics Just like every other GBA remake of these games, the graphics are considered bad just because they're slightly different from the original's. And yes, while I do prefer the SNES version's visuals... the GBA graphics have been unfairly shat on. The game is still colorful, the sprites, environments, and backgrounds still look nice, and the visual effects are more or less preserved. Though, like I said, the SNES version still does look a lot better, if only for the greater color palette. Soundtrack The game's soundtrack is another thing people seem to hate. I personally think it sounds... alright. I do think it pales in comparison to the SNES version overall, but by GBA standards, it still sounds good. It's sure as hell not as bad a conversion as Sonic Genesis, that I can tell you. Gameplay This has got to be one of the better-designed GBA remakes of these classic platformers. In contrast to the Donkey Kong Country remakes, the jump height and physics feel just right. The controls also feel exactly the same to the SNES version, so that just adds to this. The level design is still as solid as it was on the SNES, because, well..... it's a 1:1 conversion. The levels are still as fun, fair, and challenging as they were in the SNES original. No complaints here. An addition to the GBA remake is the option to play as Luigi in singleplayer. Originally, you could only play as him in the multiplayer mode, but the GBA version allows you to switch to him by pressing R on the map screen. Here, he.... really isn't that great. His jump is way too floaty, he takes forever to land after a jump because of it, and he has very poor traction, making him very slippery. He may help in a few occasions, but overall his cruddy control makes a huge difference to me. Mario works so perfectly that I almost never felt inclined to switch to Luigi, but the option is nice. One thing that isn't quite as good is the visibility. It's really not that bad, considering the GBA's lower resolution and the fact that the sprites were small to begin with, allowing the game to remain extremely playable. Though, on occasion, the screen size can be less than optimal. It won't lead to any major issues, but it is there. Difficulty The game's difficulty is just as fair as the Super Nintendo version. Enemies are placed in spots so you can see them coming and react accordingly, there are no cheaply-designed sections, and every single jump is completely doable and fair. In fact, the difficulty balancing is slightly improved in this remake. Instead of having to beat a fortress or ghost house to save the game, you can save it any time from the pause menu. This isn't a major improvement because you could just backtrack to a ghost house to save in the original, but the extra convenience is a positive addition. It also makes a very accessible game even more accessible. Another improvement is the fact that getting hit with a second-level powerup (such as a cape feather or fire flower) reverts you back to normal big Mario instead of to small Mario like the original. That was probably my biggest issue with the SNES original, so I think it's great that they fixed it with SMB3's better hit point system. Conclusion Overall, this is a great remake of a game that I already love to death. It's way better than people give it credit for and, honestly, it may just be my favorite GBA game. The GBA conversion of SMW fared better than the remake of DKC2, but this version isn't quite as good as the SNES version of DKC2 (if that makes any sense). To answer my second question, which version do I prefer? To be honest, I couldn't tell you. While I prefer the SNES version of DKC2 over DKC2 GBA, Super Mario World is a little less cut-and-dry in this regard. Both versions of this game are great in their own right, with the SNES version's superior visuals and soundtrack and the GBA version's improved difficulty balancing. If I'd have to recommend one version to play, though, it would be the SNES original. If you've already played that version, you wouldn't be sinning by skipping on this one, especially since the original is available on the 3DS eShop. Whatever. This version is still an amazing game. Man, this is one game I'll bring on every single road trip I take, that I can say for sure. So, what's up next? I'm almost done with DKC1 on GBA, so that will probably be what I cover next time. After that, I'll get to DKC3 GBA, the PS1 Crash Bandicoot games, Pac-Man World, Yoshi's Island, Spyro the Dragon, and Spyro 2 : Ripto's Rage. Whichever order I end up playing them all in, I'm sure I'm going to enjoy every single one of them. As always, thanks for reading. Category:Blog posts